Country Chapter #4 | Norway
students and staff alike. Due to the lack of a common approach, the fact that staff interpreted the rules differently and the fact that there were no guidelines for dealing with different kinds of behaviour, many unnecessary discussions took place among the staff. At the same time as the ongoing and never ending discussions among the staff were taking place, two former students committed suicide within a short period of time. These tragedies made a formidable impression on the staff and it became clear that something had to be done. As the principal, Synnøve Solheim Pedersen, said: “You can’t wait until they are teenagers to help develop their selfesteem and their ability to deal with their own lives. You have to start earlier and not wait until it’s too late.” The Headteacher Synnøve Solheim Pedersen was brand new as a headteacher when she started the process of turning the school around, developing unified rules and systems for the reinforcement of positive behaviour and problem solving. She had been the deputy headteacher for some years and when the principal announced that he wanted to resign, she was afraid that he would be replaced by someone less competent. She applied for the position herself, while thinking that this would be a good chance to do something about the current situation at the school. She wanted to do something systemic, stimulating and lasting; she wanted to help bring about a change that could influence everyday life at the school and in all grades and not just do something that would happen now and again. The search for a good programme had begun. The Arendal local authority contacted the University of Agder (UiA) in the spring of 2008, to discuss a common research and development project. The background was a desire to make the school a better place to be. But
it also represented a great wish to establish a better learning environment at the school, through reducing problem behaviour and increasing academic achievement. The request for a systemic and competence building programme was answered by the partners being referred to the city of Larvik 130 km away, where about twenty schools and twenty kindergartens had implemented this programme. A large group of leaders visited the community of Larvik to be introduced to how they had recently anchored and implemented the Whole School ART programme. Then the programme leaders of Larvik were invited to Arendal and a large number of teachers were introduced to this approach, became enthusiastic and from the beginning were ready to give the Whole School ART programme a try. A. Understanding why the Sandnes School was more successful than other similar schools at implementing the programme is easy and complex at the same time. The easy answer is that it was due to the headteacher and her energetic and fearless leadership of the process. The complex answer is how the school went about it. She asked the local authorities for three years in which to turn the school around. After three years, in 2011, the University of Agder completed their report which consisted of an evaluation of the implementation of the Whole School ART at Sandnes, and recommendations about how to go further. Some of the results are quite astonishing and well worth reading. See also page 40 for further descriptions of the findings. Time spent teaching, on average, increased by 4 minutes per hour. B. The number of disturbances in the classroom has, on average, decreased significantly. C. Less time is taken in dealing with misbehaviour. D. Concentration lasts for a longer period of time in class.
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